A Multilingual Campaign to Keep Washington Families Housed

Washington State Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF)

Services

Research | Creative Services | Marketing and Advertising | Multicultural Consultation

Audience

Homeowners across Washington State, with a focus on BIPOC communities and households at risk of foreclosure

Challenge

Raise awareness of a time-sensitive COVID-relief program, build trust with BIPOC communities, and drive hotline calls and web traffic

Outcome

Boosted web traffic by 120%, hotline calls by 146%, helped distribute $60M in relief to over 3,500 households, and reaching BIPOC homeowners at 18% above baseline.

Approach

We took a research-driven approach to identify priority languages, regions, and audience mindsets. Instead of broad messaging, we crafted highly tailored outreach messaging and materials for specific communities, ensuring cultural relevance and clarity.

The Challenge

In response to the COVID-19 housing crisis, the Washington State Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF) was created to prevent foreclosures and provide relief to households at risk of losing their homes. With equity built into its mandate, HAF needed to reach those most impacted by the pandemic, particularly BIPOC homeowners. But with minimal public awareness, low trust in government programs among these communities, and limited time to act, the window for impact was narrow.

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission hired The Vida Agency to lead a statewide, culturally relevant outreach and awareness campaign to reach the right people with the right message that resonated.

Our Approach

We took a research-driven approach to identify priority languages, regions, and audience mindsets. Instead of broad messaging, we crafted highly tailored outreach messaging and materials for specific communities, ensuring cultural relevance and clarity.

This included a transcreated website in four languages, targeted media buys across digital, print, and radio, and direct engagement with community-based organizations. We trained local spokespeople, appeared in multicultural media segments, and conducted message refinement sessions with community transcreators. Every tactic was intentionally designed to feel relevant and empowering to struggling homeowners and let them know help was available.

Our goal was to drive traffic to the campaign website and increase calls to the Homeownership Hotline—a vital resource that connects callers with housing counselors who can guide them through applying for financial assistance and services to prevent or stop foreclosure.

Highlights

• Cascadia Creative Award Silver winner

• Viddy Awards Gold winner

The Impact

Reach

• Reached over 58 million digital ad impressions through a targeted, multilingual digital media campaign, and drove over 160,000+ unique visitors to the campaign website.

• Partnered with more than 20 local and multicultural media outlets to connect with priority audiences.

• Built deep grassroots engagement by collaborating with more than 170 community-based organizations to share information, build trust, and promote program access.

• Conducted hyperlocal outreach at 63 Puget Sound events, where community advisors shared resources and distributed 2,000 multilingual flyers to build face-to-face awareness.

Results

• The digital campaign drove significant engagement, increasing website traffic by more than 120% and boosting hotline call volume by 146%.

• The campaign helped distribute $60 million in relief funds, helping over 3500 families avoid foreclosure, stay in their homes, and secure their futures in a time of crisis.

• 45% of homeowners helped were BIPOC, outperforming baseline representation by 18%, demonstrating that the outreach was both targeted and effective in reaching those most at risk.